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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197044">Cherry Life</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_hellcat/pseuds/red_hellcat'>red_hellcat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Drama, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Sex, Songfic, Torture, Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:01:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,729</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197044</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_hellcat/pseuds/red_hellcat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hawkins is a very strange place. Everything here seems to be turned upside down, everything including Alexei. He was a loyal, honest scientist but here in Hawkins, he found himself as a traitor and a criminal on the run.</p>
<p>How did it happen? Everything started with a girl which he saved...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alexei (Stranger Things)/Original Female Character(s), Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cherry Life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thanks for reading my work!<br/>I want to warn you, I'm just learning English so the text might include a lot of mistakes. I'm sorry about that and I would be really thankful if you notice my mistakes so I could fix them. Thanks again &lt;3</p>
<p>I'm a Russian native speaker so from time to time I will ad phrases in Russian to make dialogs between characters more realistic. Also, I will add transliteration and translation so you could understand the meaning.</p>
<p>Enjoy the reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p><em>Я инженер на сотню рублей</em> (I'm an engineer making 100 rubles a month)<br/>
<em>И больше я не получу</em> (And I won't get anymore)<br/>
<em>Мне двадцать пять, и я до сих пор</em> (I'm twenty-five, but I still)<br/>
<em>Не знаю, чего хочу</em> (Have no idea what I want)</p>
  <p><em>И мне кажется, нет никаких оснований</em> (And I think, there are no reasons)<br/>
<em>Гордиться своей судьбой</em> (To be proud of my destiny)<br/>
<strong><em>Но если б я мог выбирать себя</em> (But if I could choose myself)<br/>
<em>Я снова бы стал собой</em> (I would be like me again)</strong></p>
</div><h4>Moscow, Russia<br/>
October 1984</h4><p>It was a warm sunny day. The last reminder about gone summer and every happy moment happened back there. People around the streets have been tacking off their jackets and hats. And they were smiling at the brightness of the sun rays. Children were playing, laughing, and teasing people who pass by.</p>
<p>Alexei just left the product store, and he was going through the park, already covered with yellow leaves, back home. His grocery bag was almost empty, but he seems doesn't care about that fact and smiling anyway.</p>
<p>He was happy on that sunny October day.</p>
<p>Today he got good news. <strong>Incredible news,</strong> actually. He was approved for the position of professor at National Research Nuclear University, and his work there will begin next month. At that moment Alexei felt both excitement and anticipation of starting a new page of his life.</p>
<p>Now everything going to be just perfect! He will build a good and perfect career at the University, he will have a solid annual salary, and he will become one of the best Ph.D. in the whole Soviet Union. Most important, Alexei will be able to give his mother, who was the true hero for him, happy life without any needs.</p>
<p>That was the plan, and Alexei was pretty sure nothing can ruin it.</p>
<p>So he smiled at everyone who passed by. And his kind brown eyes were shinning from boundless love to this world and this life.</p>
<p>As this happened often, the dreams and visions of the perfect life were ruined unexpectedly sudden. In fact, at the very same moment when Alexei opened the door into his apartment.</p>
<p>"Mom, I'm home!' he said and sat the grocery bag at the table in the corridor. "I have some good news for you. You will like it!" he keeps saying while unshoeing.</p>
<p>But no answer wasn't followed his words.</p>
<p>"Mom?" repeated Alexei with alertness. Silence again. He frowned. He used to hear a happy mother voice every time he was back home saying "Alyosha, dear!"</p>
<p>He looked at the kitchen but it was empty. Now he had noticed that there wasn't any delicious smell of just cooked food. That was out of the ordinary too.</p>
<p>"Maybe she just went to the store or something," thought Alexei, "there are no reasons to be panic."</p>
<p>He stepped into the living room, and at the same moment, he heard a rude man's voice. "Hello, Alexei." He froze where he stood and felt how his heart rate is accelerating. He knew that voice. He knew that man.</p>
<p>"General," finally said Alexei with a trembling voice after a long silence. "What... What are you doing here? And where is my mother?" Alexei had some very bad guessing but he was afraid even to think about it. He was aware of what capable people with power such as general Stepanov.</p>
<p>"Oh, she is quite alright!" answered general with a sarcastic smile. "At least for now."</p>
<p>"What do you want from me? I already told you I'm not gonna take part in your project. It's too dangerous and unstable. A lot of people can be hurt!"</p>
<p>"That is not your concern, Alexei."</p>
<p>"It's exactly my concern! As a scientist, I bear the responsibility before the world and the people in it."</p>
<p>General listened to him patiently, and then he burst out laughing. "You're so naive stupid idiot, Alexei!" said Stepanov mockingly. "But yet, you're the most brilliant scientist I know so, want you it or not (I don't care), you will shut the hell up, and you will do whatever your Nation needs you to do!"</p>
<p>"Or your mother..." Stepanov added quickly before Alexei can manage to tell something in return "...will test every possible pain before she dyed."</p>
<p>"Where is she?"</p>
<p>"Hmm, I think, she is already in Leningrad," said general after he looked at his old fashion watch. "In a very <strong><em>marvelous</em></strong> hospital..." He laughed again, this time quieter when he noticed pale Alexei's face and his eyes full of fear and panic. Oh, this feeling was incredible! General secretly enjoyed this aspect of his work: intimidate, press on wounds, play on feelings, show who have real power. "Don't worry, Maria Vasilievna is alright! She has everything she needs: a private chamber, caring nurses. It's in your interest it going that way."</p>
<p>Alexei closed his eyes and breathed wearily. </p>
<p>"Whatever you want. I will do it. But you will keep my mother safe and I will have proofs you keeping your word."</p>
<p>General smiled, this time friendly (but his eyes still kept cold and contempt). "Deal," said Stepanov shortly.</p>
<p>Now Alexei had no idea about what's coming in his life. He knew for sure only one thing: his plan of the perfect life was ruined even before the start. But it was a damn good plan.</p>

<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>***</p>
</div><h4>Hawkins, Indiana, USA<br/>
October 1984</h4><p>"Hey, Will, are you alright?" she asked while friendly patting his shoulder.</p>
<p>"Ye... Yes," answered the young boy without any confidence. He was really quiet and sad after Dr. Owens's appointment. Yes, Will Byers always was a calm quiet kid, but now it expresses much stronger. Everyone here seems to notice his unusual behavior.</p>
<p>Samantha looked back at Joyce Byers who was walking next to sheriff Jim Hopper and discussing something with him. It was a very important topic indeed because they were almost arguing with each other, but in a lower voice, so Samantha couldn't hear them.</p>
<p>"Hey, Will," Samantha said again, "How is your campaign going? Are you guys still fighting with Darlaka... Darlakan..."</p>
<p>"Darlakanand, you mean?"</p>
<p>"Yep, that one! So, how is it going?"</p>
<p>"Meh... He killed Compass Genius and we still don't know how to defeat him." Will seems to feel better now when he can tell someone about things he loves most of all, like Dungeons &amp; Dragons.</p>
<p>Samantha looked at his young but very smart eyes. She smiled. "I wish I could play just like you guys! Became a brave elvish girl who takes revenge for her parents killed by orcs... Ah, that would be much funnier than sitting under endless data research!"</p>
<p>"So join us!" Will suggested. "Yes, why not, we would need another player in our team!"</p>
<p>That was so nice so Samantha felt tenderness. She really wanted it, but...</p>
<p>Samantha looked back at the lab where Dr. Owens and his intern Dean Hopper stood on one of the balconies looking at them very attentively. Dean, who was also the brother of sheriff Hopper, was her husband. He was a really good person, but he thought that adults can't be unserious and can't spend their time playing stupid children's games. Especially, scientists couldn't spend their time so pointless. </p>
<p>"Thanks for inviting me, Will! I really wish I could play with you at least once... But, you know, I need to work, I need to study this Upside Down crap, and I need to check data from our research team all the time, and I need to do all that adult bullshit..."</p>
<p>Well, honestly speaking, Samantha was in love with her job in the lab and she really does love to do all that "adult bullshit". But it was not enough. She just wanted to be a kid again and have some fun without thinking about consequences. Not often, from time to time would be enough. It would help to feel alive again.</p>
<p>"Being an adult is sucks," noticed Will.</p>
<p>"Yep! You have no idea, my dear Will the Wise, how you right."</p>
<p>"Will, darling, come on!" said Joyce after finished speaking (or more precisely, arguing) with Jim Hopper. She opened the car door and invited Will to go inside. "Bye, Jim." She said looked at him angrily. And then added "Bye, Sammy" in a more tenderness tone.</p>
<p>Samantha smiled at Joyce and Will and said goodbye in return. She looked at the open window in the car, winked, and whispered to Will "I wish you never grow up. Always stay kid, children have much more wisdom than the adults!"</p>
<p>Samantha Hopper and Jim Hopper stood near each other and watched Byers's car disappear into the woods around the bend. They were two complete opposites. A small tiny woman with short curly black hair, round glasses with large lenses, and in a white robe. And a big, little bit fat man with a thick mustache, sheriff's golden badge, in the police uniform and with a half-smoked cigarette in mouth.</p>
<p>"Jim."</p>
<p>"Sam."</p>
<p>They stood and looked at each other in silence for a minute, like two idiots who don't know how to speak.</p>
<p>"Um, we'll have an anniversary a-a-a-nd we wanted to celebrate it in the small family circle, you know... So, will you come? Dean really missed you, Jim."</p>
<p>Hopper sighed and looked at his younger brother. "How can I miss that?" he asked with a sarcastic voice and after a short pause, they both laughed. </p>
<p>"Okay, great!" said Samantha with joy. "Meet you at our house, at 7 PM. November 4. And don't forget, Hopper, like you did last year, I beg you!"</p>
<p>"Told you, I didn't forget, I was busy!" he screamed into Samanthas back when she already was going back to the lab.</p>
<p>"This year," she thought, "it would be perfect, I'm sure!"</p>
<p>But Samantha Hopper wasn't right. In fact, that was the biggest mistake in all her life. November 4 is supposed to be the best day for a long time, but it turns into the worst day she could ever imagine. Samantha understood it in the very same moment when she saw her husband lying in his own blood with open terrifying eyes, looking into the darkness. And no life was left in his body.</p>
<p>On that day she lost everything. And she had no idea of what is going to happen next.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The main song of this work is Аквариум - 25 к 10</p>
<p>I recommend you listen to this song. It will help to understand the atmosphere of this work and even feel the mood of the Soviet Union and the people who lived there!</p>
<p>You can also watch this video with the song: https://youtu.be/DhtVkvMWNPk</p></blockquote></div></div>
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